Carolina Hurricanes to Face Most Important Offseason in Years

Notable RFA’s to Re-Sign

This is where things get a bit tricky, seeing as how the Carolina Hurricanes have several key pieces that are set to hit RFA status this summer. The list of upcoming RFA’s is as follows: Andrei Svechnikov, Warren Foegele, Jake Bean, Alex Nedeljkovic, Yegor Korshkov, Spencer Smallman, Maxime Lajoie, Dylan Wells, and Jeremy Helvig.

First and foremost, Andrei Svechnikov needs to be extended, like, yesterday. The young Russian phenom admittedly had a down year last year, but this is by no means the yardstick by which his potential should be measured.

Svech’s extension can go one of two ways: given the flat cap for the next several years, Andrei could decide to bet on himself and take a bridge deal (roughly $5-$7M or so for the next 3 years) just to really cash in at over $10M afterward. The other route could see Svech signing a long-term deal right off the bat and becoming a Carolina Hurricane for the next 7-8 years or so at a price tag of right around $7.5M-$8M per season (as rumored – grain of salt, folks).

Next up, in order of importance, is Alex Nedeljkovic. Now, I know there have been several rumors surrounding Ned and the Canes this summer. These range anywhere from “Ned’s camp and the Canes are $1-$3M off of each other” to “the Canes might not extend Ned a qualifying offer because they might not like how much he could be awarded in salary arbitration” (as if they can’t just walk away from that offer and let him become a UFA anyway, but I digress).

As far as I’m concerned, Ned deserves a solid contract, but not an extravagant one. Taking in his Calder-caliber season into account, as well as the relatively small sample size of NHL-level play we have on him, I’d clock him at around $3.5-$4M on a short-term deal, maybe 2 years or so. The Carolina Hurricanes have had a revolving door at the goaltending position for what seems like a decade, with players like Cam Ward, Anton Khudobin, Eddie Lack, Curtis McElhinney, and Scott Darling entering and exiting the organization without making too much of an impact or improvement stats-wise.

Ned has finally brought stability and elite-level goaltending to Raleigh-Durham, and deserves a pay raise as well as the chance to really cash in the event he does, indeed, “prove it”.

Now, rumor has it that Warren Foegele wants more playing time, and the Canes might not be in the place to give it to him; this, coupled with the rumor that the Canes are close to having a trade in place for him, I’m going to assume he (like Jake Bean) will not be a Carolina Hurricane for much longer.

The only other guy set to hit RFA status that I think the Carolina Hurricanes should re-sign is Maxime Lajoie. The Canes’ defensive depth of yore has dwindled down to almost a barebones prospect pool. Aside from Joey Keane, Anttoni Honka, and Jesper Sellgren, Maxime Lajoie is probably the next-best defensive prospect for the Canes, and is likely closer to the NHL level than all of those guys except Keane. I’m of the mindset they’ll sign him to a short-term two-way deal, a la Morgan Geekie, thereby not moving the needle much on cap space.

Korshkov is staying in the KHL for next season, and the rest of those RFA guys are either out the door, or career AHL/ECHL’er’s. Taking into account Ned’s theoretical $4Mx2 deal, as well as Svech’s   well-deserved $7.5M longer-term deal, the Carolina Hurricanes would be looking at right around $7.5M in cap space left, with a few holes in the roster left to fill. We’ll get into that next.